A shell-type munitions round (ammunition) for a barrel-type weapon, e.g. a cannon, can comprise a projectile constituting the warhead and a shell or casing which is composed at least in part of combustible or destructible material. The latter shell or casing is at least in part destroyed upon the firing of the round as is described, for example, in German Pat. DE-PS No. 1,453,842 and German Pat. Document (Open application) De-OS No. 2,323,244. The cartridge-type munition round described in German Pat. No. 1,453,842 and in the corresponding German printed application (Auslegeschrift) DE-AS No. 1453842 has a projectile or warhead of conventional type and a shell or casing which is constricted into a neck peripherally engaging the cylindrical body of this projectile or warhead.
In the German Open Application No. 2,323,244, the projectile is a subcaliber fin-stabilized projectile whose drive cage is connected with a combustible shell by a frustoconical transition or connecting piece. The connecting piece and the shell can be attached to one another by adhesive and can be constituted, like the casing, of combustible material.
Since combustible or, more generally, destructible casings have a significantly reduced strength compared to metallic casings, the connecting point between the projectile and the casing is the weakest point of the cartridge-type munition round. At this point the relatively heavy projectile must be bonded to the shell in such fashion as to enable the round to be capable of withstanding shock, vibration, bending, tensile and pressure stresses. This enables the cartridge-type munition round to withstand handling, insertion into the weapon and the initial firing operations.
Failure of this bond or, more generally, failure of the connection between the combustible casing and the projectile renders the munitions round operationally unreliable.
For example, when the stress upon the casing exceeds the permissible stress, the munition round can be so distorted that it cannot be inserted into the magazine of the weapon or causes the round to jam in the magazine.
Since, moreover, it is not always possible to detect rapidly whether the munition round has been damaged or distorted, problems in firing or handling such rounds have been encountered.
One of the difficulties in overcoming this problem is that it is almost impossible or impractical to change the basic shape of the munition round from the standard shapes if the munition round is to be accommodated into the magazines of existing weapons or to be a standard round for firing from a number of standardized weapons.
To date, to our knowledge, the problem has not been solved by conventional means.